Despite a name evoking the opulent leaders of one of history's most famous (and, as I’d soon learn, famously misunderstood) civilisations, Total War: Pharaoh's aspirations don’t start and end with ancient Egypt. Moreso, the next mainline historical Total War aims to capture the struggles and instability of a time period for which ancient Egypt simply had the best seat in the house. “We wanted to make a game about the collapse of the Bronze Age,” Creative Assembly Sofia’s Milcho Vasilev, lead battle designer on Total War: Pharaoh, tells me. “There’s a lot of mystery surrounding it, and we wanted to uncover it.”

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Somehow it's June already, which means it's time for the Indiescovery crew to suppress our existential dread at the fleetingness of existence and take a look at our favourite indie games from the first (almost) half of 2023! Don't worry, we very quickly realise that June has such a slammed line-up we can probably give it a best-games episode all of its own to make up for the fact that we tackled this topic a bit early.

Listen and subscribe via your podcast provider of choice! Find us on RSS feed, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Deezer, and YouTube.

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Last time, you decided that a silent protagonist is better than combat style ratings. Not by much! It was a 60/40 split, and I'm surprised/glad it was this close. We are now one decision closer to knowing the best thing. This week, I ask you to choose between a matter concerning movement, and what an enemy does in response to when and how you move. What's better: an enemy which can't see you but can sense you, or it only moves when you're not looking?

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DDR5 RAM used to be expensive - but fast forward a year or two and now it's possible to pick up 16GB for a little more than three of your British tenners. That's right, you can now get a single 16GB stick of DDR5-4800 for £34, or two for £68 - quick maths.

This is by far the best choice when it comes to raw price versus performance, and allows you to build out a DDR5 Intel or AMD system at the absolute minimum cost while still getting a healthy 32GB.

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As AMD's (underwhelming) mid-range RX 7000 graphics cards are being released, we're seeing extremely good discounts on their past-gen offerings, making them significantly better value. Case in point is this deal on the MSI RX 6800, which is a great card for 1440p to 4K gaming and now costs just £430. That's £260 cheaper than the same card cost at the end of April, reflecting a heck of a savings!

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One of my absolute favourite elements of Citizen Sleeper is how you essentially play as a nobody. When we first meet the Sleeper they've had their memories completely erased; the last thing they remember is stuffing themselves into a cargo container and shooting off into the depths of space - a last resort in wanting to escape the clutches of a scary corporation. They now find themselves on a dishevelled space station called Erlin's Eye, desperate and alone. They're essentially an empty shell, and one which you can etch your own story onto.

But it’s not their lack of personal identity that makes the Sleeper a nobody (after all, you essentially forge an identity for them as you make decisions throughout the game). It’s the realisation that, in this vast universe that developer Gareth Damian Martin has written, you’re no one. A single grain of sand in a vast desert. No one knows who you are, no one cares about you, and you’re stuck on a lawless space station, helpless, scared, and dying.

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“Oh yeah, we’ve got the System Shock IP,” said the insurance company. “What do you want to do with it? Do you want to make a sequel?”

It’s a question you could imagine being posed to Ken Levine, or Warren Spector, or several other notable designers who could reasonably lay claim to the legacy of Looking Glass and Irrational’s legendary immersive sims. Instead, it was asked of Stephen Kick - at the time, a recently unemployed videogame artist holidaying in a Guatemalan hostel. Up until that point, Kick had dedicated his life to creative pursuits. He had no business background, and none of the acumen required to understand contracts or negotiate licensing fees. More to the point, he had no more than $5,000 to his name. Hardly the foundation for a follow-up to two of the most acclaimed PC games of all time.

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You didn’t hear it from me, but games look different now to how they did in 1994>. Mmm. Nonetheless, Nightdive Studio’s System Shock remake stays resolutely faithful to the Looking Glass original even when giving it a modern 3D makeover, with a retro flourish in its intentionally pixellated textures.

As a snappy little After Eight to the main course of Jeremy Peel’s review and OG System Shock oral history (both great, do go read those first), here’s a look at how the 2023 remake’s visuals compare to the trailblazing immsim’s previous iterations. In other words, the 2015 System Shock: Enhanced Edition, also by Nightdive, and the original. Well, System Shock Classic, which is basically the original except it runs on my PC.

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EVGA's Z20 mechanical keyboard has turned up on the RPS Deals Patch a few times, but always in the UK - and now we've finally seen a decent price drop on the US version over at Best Buy. Until June 1st, you can pick up this full-size optical mechanical keyboard for $59.99, a $115 discount from its MSRP and a great deal.

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The Samsung 990 Pro is the fastest gaming SSD we've ever tested, and it's down to £153.99 on Amazon UK for a 2TB model as of today. That's nearly £30 below RRP and a good deal for a drive of this level of performance.

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